In a pan, heat a glug of olive oil. Season 4 chicken breasts, then fry, skin-side down, until golden. Turn over and sear, then set aside. Fry 200g mushrooms, sliced, in the same pan until golden. Add 1 garlic clove, crushed, and 1 onion, sliced, then cook until soft. Stir in 3 tbsp Dijon mustard and 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon. Add 500ml white wine and a splash of brandy, then bubble for 2 minutes. Add the chicken, skin-side up, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring now and then.

To make
Carefully pick over the mushrooms, removing any grit or dirt, and wipe gently using a damp cloth or a little vegetable brush. Whatever you do don’t wash them, as they are like sponges and will absorb the water. With a very sharp knife, gently cut all the mushrooms into a uniform size (halve or quarter, depending on size).

In a large frying pan melt the butter with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, add the mixed mushrooms and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook the mushrooms for 4-5 minutes, then add the garlic and herbs and continue to cook for a further minute. Taste and adjust seasoning.

To serve
Pile the cooked mushrooms onto a slice of toast, top with a teaspoon of the hazelnut mayonnaise. Serve with some wild rocket dressed with a little balsamic vinegar.

Too lazy to make my own mayo and so I ended using store bought mayo. Anyway, good simple recipe for breakfast.

1. For the sauce, stud the onion halves with the cloves and put them into a pan with the milk, bay leaves, thyme and peppercorns. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and set aside for at least 20 minutes to allow time for the flavours to infuse.
2. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil. Return the milk to the boil, then strain through a sieve into a jug. Melt the butter in a medium-sized pan, add the flour and cook gently for 2-3 minutes without colouring. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the hot milk. Return to the boil, stirring constantly, and leave to simmer gently over a very low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.
3. Drop the sheets of lasagne pasta one at a time into a pan of boiling salted water, add the oil and cook for 12 minutes or until al dente. Drain well, run briefly under cold water, then separate and lay them out side by side on a large sheet of clingfilm.
4. Stir the nutmeg and cream into the sauce. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and some seasoning and fry briskly over a high heat for 3-4 minutes until all the excess moisture has evaporated. Stir them into the sauce with the chicken and some seasoning to taste.
5. Lightly butter a 20 x 29cm shallow baking dish and line the base with 3 of the cooked lasagne sheets. Spoon over one-third of the chicken sauce and cover with another layer of the lasagne sheets. Repeat these layers once more, then spoon over the remaining sauce and sprinkle over the parmesan.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Serve with a mixed leaf salad and hot garlic bread.

Before serving, cut the ciabatta rolls in half and toast under the grill on both sides. Top the bottom halves of the ciabatta rolls with the lettuce, followed by a slice of tomato. Arrange the burger on the tomato. Add the cheese mushroom mixture on top of the burger. Top each burger with the other halves of the ciabatta rolls and serve.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Fry the thighs for 8-10 mins, skin side only, until golden brown, then transfer to a casserole dish. Fry the drumsticks for about 5 mins each side and add them to the thighs.

Pour the stock over the chicken legs in the casserole. There should be enough stock to just cover the chicken, if not add a little water. Bring stock to the boil and cover, leaving lid slightly ajar. Cook at just below simmering point for 30-35 mins until chicken is cooked.

While chicken is simmering, drain oil from the pan. Heat the butter in pan and add onion. Sweat onion for 5 mins until soft, but not coloured. Turn up the heat, add the mushrooms, then fry for 3 mins until they soften and start to smell wonderful. Pour over the white wine, raise the heat to maximum and boil rapidly for 6-8 mins until reduced by two-thirds. Turn off the heat and leave until chicken has cooked.

Once chicken legs are cooked, strain stock into pan with the onion, mushrooms and white wine, bring back to the boil and reduce again by two-thirds until it is thick and syrupy. Pour in double cream, bring it to the boil, season if you want, then pour it over chicken. Heat chicken through in the sauce for 2-3 mins then turn off the heat and leave for a few mins before serving. This is such an aromatic and beautiful looking dish you should serve it straight from the casserole with the lid on.

Preheat the oven to 350°F Heat the oil in a large pan. Fry the chicken for 5 mins or until browned.

Add the leek and fry for a further 5 minutes.

Add half the butter to the pan and allow it to melt. Sprinkle the flour over and stir in the milk.

Cook over a low heat until thickened then stir in the mustard.

Add the diced carrot with the mushrooms and season to taste.

Line the base of a 3 pint / 7 1/2 cup ovenproof dish with potato slices. Spoon one third of the chicken mixture over. Cover with another layer of potatoes.

Repeat layering, finishing with a layer of potatoes. Dot with the remaining butter.

Bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, covering with foil after 30 mins cooking time.

Serve hot.

To be honest, I thought the original recipe was too bland for a chicken bake (the third photograph). So with the leftover serving, I added cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese and reheated it in a toaster oven for 15 minutes; the end product is the first photograph.

Also, I forgot to get mushrooms for this dish and so I just added the leftover savoy cabbage from the duck.

Just bought a pizza stone at Whole Foods and decided to make a healthy lunch over the weekend using my go-to whole wheat pizza recipe from Smitten Kitchen and just topped the pizza with whatever we had left in the fridge.

First pop the porcini in a small bowl, then heat the milk, pour it over the mushrooms and leave them to soak for 30 minutes. Then heat the butter in a medium frying pan over a gentle heat, stir in the shallots and let them cook gently for 5 minutes.

Next, strain the porcini into a sieve lined with kitchen paper, reserving the soaking liquid, and squeeze the porcini dry. Then chop them finely and add them to the pan, along with the fresh mushrooms and the balsamic vinegar. Next, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Give it all a good stir, then cook gently, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes, until all the liquid has evaporated.

About 15 minutes before the mushrooms are ready, put the pasta on to cook (see How to cook perfect pasta, below). Then, 2 minutes before the pasta is cooked, mix the crème fraîche into the mushrooms with the soaking liquid, and warm through. Drain the pasta in a colander, return it to the hot pan and quickly mix in the mushroom mixture, then place the pasta back on a gentle heat so it continues to cook for 1 more minute while it absorbs the sauce. Take it to the table in a hot serving bowl and hand the Parmesan round separately.

I have been having way too much meat this weekend, largely because of my Friday dinner at Hawksmoor which ended up with me eating almost 800g of steak. Anyways, I decided to tone down the meat intake and just have something vegetarian (fine, it’s not really vegetarian because i added some bacon to it).

I think the trick with cooking mushrooms for risotto and pasta is to balance the sharp taste of the mushrooms, this recipe uses balsamic vinegar to do that and I added some flat leaf parsley to further moderate the taste.